as not listening to them. He had almost forgotten the
messenger riding away on his treasured horse, so occupied was he by
the further change that had occurred in the look of the sky and in the
atmosphere of the valley. Presently he lifted one strong, brown hand
to his forehead and wiped the beads of perspiration from it.

"Phew! What heat! Here," he cried, pointing at Devil's Hill, away to
his left, "what d'you make of that?"

For a moment all eyes followed the direction of his outstretched arm.
And slowly there grew in them a look of awe such as rarely found place
in their feelings.

The crown of the hill, the whole of the vast, black plateau was
enveloped in a dense gray fog. Above that hung a mighty, thunderous
pall of purple storm-cloud. Back, away into the mountains in billowy
rolls it extended, until the whole distance was lost in a blackness as
of night.

It was Curly Saunders who broke the awed silence.

"Jumpin' Mackinaw!" he cried. Then he looked after their departing
messenger. "Say, that feller oughtn't to've gone to Bay Creek. He'll
never make it."

Beasley, whose feelings were less susceptible, and whose mind was set
on the promised orgie, sneered at the other's tone.

"Skeered some, ain't you? Tcha'! It's jest wind----"

But he never completed his sentence. At that instant the whole of the
heavens seemed to split and gape open. A shaft of light, extending
from horizon to horizon, paralyzed their vision. It was accompanied by
a crash of thunder that set their ear-drums well-nigh bursting. Both
lightning and the thunder lasted for what seemed interminable minutes
and left their senses dazed, and the earth rocking beneath their
feet. Again came the blinding light, and again the thunder crashed.
Then, in a moment, panic had set in, and the tattered blanket had
fallen behind the last man as a rush was made for the doubtful shelter
of the hut.

CHAPTER VI

OUT OF THE STORM

The challenge had gone forth. In those two vivid shafts of light,
in the deafening peals of thunder the war of elements had been
proclaimed, and these men of the wilderness understood something of
their danger.

Thereafter, for some moments, a threatening silence reigned
everywhere. The birds, the insects even, all life seemed to crouch,
hushed and expectant. The valley might have been the valley of death,
so still, so dark, so threatening was the superheated atmosphere that
hung over it.

The men within the shelte